Factors promoting Iranian older adults' spirituality: a qualitative content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Spirituality plays an important role during old age, but reveals itself as a confounding mental health concept, which needs to be defined when providing spiritual care. The purpose of this study was to explore factors promoting Iranian older adults' spirituality. METHOD: In a qualitative content analysis approach, we searched for the factors promoting spirituality among a selection of Iranian older adults. Totally, 22 people aged above 60 years old were interviewed using open-ended questions. The recorded interviews were then transcribed, and a coding process was applied based on a qualitative, conventional content analysis. RESULTS: Three key factors were found to promote the spirituality among the older adults: 1) insight in personal belief, 2) spiritual socialization, and 3) peace of mind. Traditional dimensions, the cultural surroundings, and participants' religious beliefs were apparent in each of the categories. CONCLUSION: Society's role in making the seniors spiritual role models was very important; moreover the hereafter life on religious grounds seemed to be another important factor in reaching for high levels of spiritual and mystical perfection. Educational interventions based on the elders' needs for spiritual empowering by health care professionals especially with regards to their spiritual based social interactions and reaching peace of mind, will comprise a major part of wellness approaches.

[How does knowledge reach health care practice? : Implementation research and knowledge circulation]. / Wie gelangt Wissen in die Versorgung? : Implementierungsforschung und Wissenszirkulation.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based knowledge is among the most important resources in health care. However, relevant knowledge is often not implemented. There are about 100 different concepts for the "knowledge-to-practice gap". OBJECTIVES: We conducted this review to identify relevant concepts that describe and try to overcome this situation: implementation research and knowledge translation or circulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We initially conducted a systematic search in the databases CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Web of Science without time or language restrictions. Owing to the huge number of relevant articles and their heterogeneity, we decided to focus on the most important concepts thus perform a narrative review. RESULTS: Implementation research is the scientific study of methods of systematically promoting the uptake of current research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice, with the aim of improving the quality and effectiveness of health services. From this definition, the affinity with health services research seems to be clear. Knowledge translation has a wider spectrum and includes the synthesis of knowledge. The term "knowledge circulation" seems to fit better, because it underlines the sharing of knowledge between research and practice. CONCLUSION: Implementation research and knowledge circulation are similar research approaches, which try to develop micro-, meso-, and macro-level strategies for health services to bring knowledge into practice. This results in often complex research questions, which should be processed in interdisciplinary teams.

The Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia in Down Syndrome Scale (BPSD-DS II): Optimization and Further Validation.

BACKGROUND: People with Down syndrome (DS) are at high risk to develop Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD). Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are common and may also serve as early signals for dementia. However, comprehensive evaluation scales for BPSD, adapted to DS, are lacking. Therefore, we previously developed the BPSD-DS scale to identify behavioral changes between the last six months and pre-existing life-long characteristic behavior. OBJECTIVE: To optimize and further study the scale (discriminative ability and reliability) in a large representative DS study population. METHODS: Optimization was based on item irrelevance and clinical experiences obtained in the initial study. Using the shortened and refined BPSD-DS II, informant interviews were conducted to evaluate 524 individuals with DS grouped according to dementia status: no dementia (DS, N = 292), questionable dementia (DS + Q, N = 119), and clinically diagnosed dementia (DS + AD, N = 113). RESULTS: Comparing item change scores between groups revealed prominent changes in frequency and severity for anxious, sleep-related, irritable, restless/stereotypic, apathetic, depressive, and eating/drinking behavior. For most items, the proportion of individuals displaying an increased frequency was highest in DS + AD, intermediate in DS + Q, and lowest in DS. For various items within sections about anxious, sleep-related, irritable, apathetic, and depressive behaviors, the proportion of individuals showing an increased frequency was already substantial in DS + Q, suggesting that these changes may serve as early signals of AD in DS. Reliability data were promising. CONCLUSION: The optimized scale yields largely similar results as obtained with the initial version. Systematically evaluating BPSD in DS may increase understanding of changes among caregivers and (timely) adaptation of care/treatment.

Power resources of older people in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Maximising the client's power resources facilitates their ability to cope with chronic illness. Nurses must be well informed about power resources and feelings of empowerment among older people. AIM: This article reports on a study exploring power resources in daily life from the perspective of older people in Iran. DESIGN: A qualitative content analysis study was conducted. The participants were selected from older community dwellers in Iran using in-depth, semi-structured interviews to understand their experiences with power resources. RESULTS: Power in older people in Iran is represented by four dimensions: spiritual, intellectual, social and physical. Each power dimension can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic modes. CONCLUSION: By maximising older people's power in intellectual, social and especially in spiritual resources, the effect of the loss of physical power, with its deteriorative or depressogenic effect on older people's sense of power and well-being can be compensated for. It is recommended that nurses should plan their interventions to enhance older people's power, especially their spiritual power. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Different models of empowering older people should be explored in Iranian nursing care delivery.